Appeals court: Dassey from 'Making a Murderer' will remain in prison

PORTAGE, Wis. (USA TODAY) -- Brendan Dassey will remain in prison while prosecutors appeal a lower court's decision to overturn his conviction, the Chicago-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled Thursday.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Wisconsin Department of Justice filed an "emergency motion" with the Seventh Circuit, requesting that the court stay a lower court's order to release Dassey from custody by 8 p.m. on Friday. Dassey's attorneys filed a response arguing against a stay.

The federal appeals court granted the state's request.

Dassey's attorneys published a statement saying, "The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Brendan Dassey must stay in prison until his appeal is resolved. We are disappointed more than words can say. The fight goes on."

The Seventh Circuit had to order a stay of the lower court's ruling before Friday to halt Dassey's ordered release. If it did not rule before then, the lower court's order to release Dassey would have gone into effect.

On Monday, U.S. Magistrate William Duffin ordered that Dassey be conditionally released while the DOJ's appeal of his decision to overturn Dassey's conviction is pending before the Seventh Circuit. Almost a decade ago, juries convicted Dassey and his uncle, Steven Avery, in the 2005 homicide of Teresa Halbach.

As arguments from both sides poured in since Duffin's ruling, anticipation of Dassey's ordered release grew online and outside Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, where he is being held. Throughout the week, media from across the state lined up across the road from the prison, in case Dassey is released from custody.

A TIMELINE: THIS WEEK'S COURT FILINGS Monday: • U.S. Magistrate Judge William Duffin (United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin) granted the request of Brendan Dassey’s attorneys that he be released from custody while the state appeals Duffin’s earlier decision to overturn Dassey’s conviction. The appeal is before the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago.

Tuesday: • The state Department of Justice filed a motion before Duffin asking him to stay his decision to allow Dassey’s release from prison. The state asked Duffin to make a decision on its motion by 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Wednesday: • Duffin responded to the state’s motion, saying prosecutors made basically the same arguments in their most recent motion as they did in filings before his order to release him. He ordered that Dassey be released by 8 p.m. on Friday. • Prosecutors filed an “emergency motion” with the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, a higher court, asking for a stay on Duffin’s order to release Dassey. • Dassey’s attorneys filed a response to the state’s motion before the Seventh Circuit.

Thursday: • The Seventh Circuit granted the DOJ’s motion for a stay, ruling that Brendan Dassey will remain in prison while the appeal of his overturned conviction is pending.